Technology and

Information Strategy

2019-2023
© Copyright Commonwealth of Australia, 2019.

The Technology and Information Strategy 2019-2023 is licensed by the Commonwealth of

Australia for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence with the
exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency
responsible for publishing the report, content supplied by third parties, and any images
depicting people.

For licence conditions see Creative Commons website - Attribution 4.0 International page

This publication should be attributed as ‘Department of the Environment and Energy

Technology and Information Strategy 2019-2023, Commonwealth of Australia 2019’.

The Commonwealth of Australia has made all reasonable efforts to identify content supplied
by third parties using the following format ‘© Copyright, [name of third party] ’.

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Portfolio Ministers for the
Department of the Environment and Energy.

The Department acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and their
continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their
cultures and to their elders both past and present.

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Contents
Foreword ................................................................................................................................. 3
About this strategy ................................................................................................................. 4
The Department’s business requirements ........................................................................... 5
Goals ....................................................................................................................................... 7
Fit for purpose....................................................................................................................... 7
Mobility and collaboration ..................................................................................................... 8
Flexible ................................................................................................................................. 8
Lights on ............................................................................................................................... 8
Information at the core .......................................................................................................... 9
Secure .................................................................................................................................. 9
Environment ......................................................................................................................... 9
Approach .............................................................................................................................. 10
Business transformation and staff capability .................................................................... 12
Governance .......................................................................................................................... 13
Appendix 1 - Alignment to Corporate Plan ......................................................................... 15

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Foreword
This strategy will guide how the Department transforms its business to leverage the
opportunities that advances in technology and information present, while also managing the
new risks that will be a part of that journey. It is a journey the whole of the Department must
undertake. It requires reconsidering how we do our business and how we support our people
to gain new skills and capability.

The pace of change in information and communication technology is astonishing. Today’s

mobile phones contain processors that are exponentially more powerful than the computers
that filled entire rooms only a few short decades ago. Where computers were once limited to a
small number of big businesses, now there are approximately four connected devices per
person in Australia.

Wireless communication technologies, such as 4G broadband cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

have revolutionised the way we consume and share information. The convenience of wireless
technology has shaped expectations that services should be available anywhere, any time, on
any device. This includes the services that government provides.

Information is at the core of all these changes, and as the volume of data continues to grow,
so too does its value. Governments must be able to protect the integrity of data from
increasingly sophisticated and frequent cyber-threats, while improving access to data.

New technologies have emerged to manage the ever-increasing volume of data. Machine
learning gives computers the ability to make predictions based on patterns in datasets that are
too large to be analysed by humans (big data) and artificial intelligence enables machines to
imitate the decision-making process of humans. This level of automated data analysis must be
well-governed to increase transparency around the data and reasoning used for decision
making and to reduce bias.

The Department of the Environment and Energy is enhancing its ability to exploit this evolving
technology and information capability. We will do this by delivering fit for purpose and secure
ICT services. By taking an enterprise approach and standardising common elements, we will
drive reuse and enable greater insights into the range of services the Department delivers.

New technologies and ways of working enable us to better meet the changing expectations of
staff, stakeholders, governments and the public, and to improve the way we collect, share and
use data. This strategy will drive how the Department realises these benefits.

Finn Pratt AO PSM

Secretary, Department of the Environment and Energy

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About this strategy
This strategy seeks to strengthen the Department of the Environment and Energy’s (the
Department’s) capability to achieve business objectives through better use of technology and
information. The strategy was informed by the Department’s Corporate Plan 2018-19 (refer to
Appendix 1 - Alignment to Corporate Plan) and engagement with business areas to
understand their technology and information needs. It is driven by our changing business
needs, resource constraints, advances in technology and the whole-of-government Digital
Transformation Agenda and Digital Continuity 2020 Policy. It supports the whole-of-
government move to shared services for common business needs (such as human resources,
finance and grants) and the drive to consume off-the-shelf cloud services to meet the
Department’s other business needs.

The strategy describes the current state of technology and information assets in the
Department and the needs of the Department’s diverse workforce and stakeholders. It outlines
a vision for the future and how the Department will get there. Through this strategy, the
Department aims to deliver fit for purpose technology and information solutions that are
flexible and secure, maximise the value of information, enhance mobility and collaboration and
reduce the Department’s environmental footprint, while providing continuity of services. The
Department will make use of existing governance committees to ensure that these goals are
realised through strategic investment, with an initial focus on building foundational capability
that can be leveraged in the future.

Improvements to the Department’s technology and information cannot be made in isolation. All
areas of the Department can contribute to rethinking the way we do business to take
advantage of our information assets and the opportunities that new technology offers. By
standardising core services and taking an enterprise approach to how we adopt new
technologies we can meet more business needs with our limited resources. We also must
have an enterprise approach to how we manage data and a platform to support intelligence
and analytics functions. This is needed to improve data management maturity, gain more
insights from our data and share these insights more widely to inform business decisions
across the Department.

As important as technology and information are, our people are our greatest assets. To
improve our ICT capability we must simultaneously invest in our people. Provision of training,
ongoing support and ease of use is critical to the success of this strategy.

Beth Brunoro Sebastian Hood Greg Terrill

First Assistant Secretary Chief Information Officer Chief Data Officer
Knowledge & Technology
Division

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The Department’s business requirements
The Department has a broad remit and operates across geographically diverse locations. It
operates from 25 offices around Australia and in locations as remote as Antarctica and
Kakadu. The Department’s role spans the conservation and sustainable management of
Australia’s biodiversity, ecosystems, environment and heritage as well as advancing
Australia’s strategic, scientific, environmental and economic interests in the Antarctic region. It
supports the reliable, sustainable and secure operations of energy markets and developing a
national response to climate change.

The Department delivers these outcomes through policy, programs, regulation, on-ground
management and science functions. It accredits, permits, licenses and approves activities. It
incentivises, partners and designs policy to minimise environmental impacts and support
positive change. Across these actions, the ability to capture, analyse and report both what we
do and where we do it, is a key enabler for the Department. Figure 1 provides a snapshot of
the diversity of the Department and current demands on its technology and information.

Figure 1 - Snapshot of the Department (July 2018-April 2019)

Technology solutions are needed to help deliver the broad remit of policy, program and
regulatory functions and to mitigate the geographical barriers that can hinder collaboration and
access to data. The high level business requirements of the Department are captured in
Figure 2.

The Department’s current technology and information landscape reflects a strong focus on
individual business requirements, with many single use systems, and further variety and
complexity added through multiple Machinery of Government changes over the years.
Significantly constrained capital resources have led to ageing hardware and software, and a
design approach based around single use and ageing functionality. Collectively we face a
challenge, with no simple pathway to integrate data or get reuse from our systems. This lack of
standardisation and integration limits our capability to achieve our business objectives,
particularly in the face of constrained resources.

The ageing nature of hardware and software was demonstrated by the recent performance
degradation of our virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). While steps have been taken to
remediate the performance of the network, more is needed to transition and modernise the
Department’s technology and information.
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Figure 2 - High level technology and information business requirements of the Department

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Goals
To overcome the complex business challenges faced by the Department we need to embrace
change and new opportunities. At the heart of this strategy is a vision for the future, where
opportunities are leveraged, and innovation is enabled.

The Department’s technology and information future foundations are dependable, data driven,
enterprise solutions that meet our business needs.

Our technology must reliably enable our business activities, just as our information must be
reliable to inform decisions. An enterprise approach to technology and information solutions
will enable us to operate more cohesively and efficiently as a Department.

The goals in Figure 3 guide the transition and modernisation of the Department’s technology
and information and help us realise our vision for the future.

Figure 3 - Technology and Information Goals

Fit for purpose

Support business needs with contemporary and easy to use technology
and information solutions

 Focus on business needs and end user experience to get the most
out of investments in technology and information services and
systems.
 Provide common, industry standard hardware and software to all
staff to improve performance and interoperability and simplify
support arrangements.
 Prioritise enterprise solutions to common business needs to
optimise investments and reap the benefits of standardisation.
 Redesign services to reduce system outages and downtime.

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Mobility and collaboration
Simple ways to partner and collaborate

 Provide each staff member with a mobile workspace (device and

software) that can access the information and applications needed
to do their jobs in the office, at offsite meetings and in the field
(instead of being limited to a single desk or geographic location).
 Deliver a new standard suite of software, including a modern
desktop and cloud enabled productivity suite, to improve
productivity.
 Use simple online collaboration tools to remove the need for teams
to be co-located and make it easier for our stakeholders to work with
us.
 Provide staff with easy access to a range of approved business
applications through a self-service app store to more rapidly meet
business needs.

Flexible
Rapidly transform and reuse technology and information at minimal cost

 Drive an enterprise approach through standardisation and

rationalisation of business processes, information, applications and
infrastructure in a way that enables changes like machinery of
government moves to be handled more efficiently.
 Establish clear governance arrangements to determine the most
appropriate hosting environment to support business needs cost
effectively and without duplication.
 Consider ease of integration as a core factor in the purchase or
development of new applications to enable data sharing and
minimise support costs.
 Build applications from easily adaptable and reusable components
to support integration and reduce future development costs.
 Build internal capability around brokerage, integration and
management of contracted services to support the Department’s
move from bespoke development to consumption of off the shelf
services.
 Consolidate the existing portfolio of applications and software
platforms, based on what is required to run the business, to
minimise costs.

Lights on
Continuity of services as we build the foundations of the future

 Enable predictability of performance through continuity of

technology and information services as we build the foundations for
the future and explore new possibilities.

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Information at the core
Maximise the value of data to inform decisions

 Systematically manage the Department’s information and data

across its entire lifecycle, from acquisition to retirement.
 Use analytics to maximise the value of data.
 Provide single points of truth for data and information – stored once,
reused many times.
 Describe information with rich metadata to make it easier to find.
 Publish non-sensitive data in easily searchable public information
repositories by default to improve accessibility for external
stakeholders.
 Expand the Department’s collection and usage of data to provide
new ways to integrate, analyse and report data.
 Provide training and guidance to support staff to derive more
meaningful insights from data and apply those insights effectively.
 Streamline and automate analytics with machine learning and
artificial intelligence, where data maturity allows, to enable more
rapid analysis of large datasets.

Secure
Secure systems and information with the right access at the right time

 Integrate cyber security into business processes and educate and

inform staff about security risks to reduce the Department’s
exposure to these.
 Continually strengthen the security of our technology and
information, along with our ability to detect and respond to threats.
 Implement stronger identity management by default, including multi-
factor authentication, to improve the user experience and ensure
that the right people can access the right information.

Environment
Reduce the Department’s environmental footprint

 Replace paper-based workflows for approval of documents with

auditable digital authorisations to enable data to be digital
throughout its lifecycle, reducing the Department’s usage of paper.
 Implement digital first with print on demand options to reduce
printing.
 Integrate paperless record keeping into systems to simplify
compliance with legislative requirements and make it largely
invisible to staff.
 Make device management more energy efficient and consolidate
Department-owned infrastructure to reduce energy consumption.
 Consider sustainable procurement principles for ICT procurements.

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Approach
Realising the goals identified in this strategy will require fundamental changes to the
technology and information services we provide. Delivering a change in state, while at the
same time maintaining continuity of service to our business areas, is a key area of tension this
strategy needs to manage.

Two distinct horizons have been defined in the approach for delivery. The first horizon, core
services, identifies the foundational capability required to enable a shift to modern services
while delivering continuity of existing services (until services can be rationalised and replaced).

To prepare for modern services the following foundational capability is needed:

 a mobile workspace (device and software) for staff

 a new digital identity to provide integrated access across departmental ICT services
 an enterprise approach to core business applications (e.g. customer relationship
management, data management, business intelligence and analytics systems) to deliver
enterprise wide business capability (e.g. single view of customer)
 governed hybrid networks – the capability to use either cloud, shared services or
Department-owned infrastructure and storage to service our ICT needs
 a new operating model for ICT services with greater in-house service integration and
control.
Foundational capability must be in place before shifting workloads, or on-boarding processes
to modern services under the second horizon (e.g. governance and integration of cloud
services).

Horizon 2, future pathways, is the ability to leverage foundational capability to rationalise,

transform and modernise our technology and information services. Figure 4 identifies the key
activities that must occur in each horizon.

Continuity: Maintain and sustain existing services and systems until they are rationalised and
replaced.

Foundation: Prepare the Department for adoption of modern services by building reusable
capabilities and analysing existing services and systems to inform rationalisation and
replacement.

Modernisation: Deliver new services and systems in a contemporary and rationalised way,
informed by the current state.

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Figure 4 - Technology and Information Strategy Horizons

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Business transformation and staff capability
The Australian Public Service has been given the challenge of reshaping to be more nimble,
modern, connected and responsive. Harnessing new and powerful technology and information
capability can help us meet this challenge by, at the least, automating more of our business
and, at the most, providing fundamentally different ways to deliver a service. However, the
opportunities to reshape how the Department delivers its outcomes is not realised by
technology alone—business transformation needs to be driven by all areas of the Department
and well supported by information technology.

For the Department, this transformation means a move from our current fragmented and single
use approach to an enterprise approach that focuses on commonalities and core elements
that can be standardised and reused. Standardisation enables more cost effective and rapid
deployment of technology and information solutions. More commonality means it is easier for
staff to interact with and move between business areas.

The interaction the Department has with stakeholders to issue permits, licenses, approvals
and certifications have many elements in common. The information needs driving these
processes are varied, but the underlying business process—receiving, assessing and issuing
approvals—is common. As the Department looks to transform these transactional business
processes, our success will be shaped by the extent to which we are prepared to relook at
how we deliver our business; to exploit common ways of delivering services. Many areas of
the Department are involved in helping to shape our business operating environments and can
have a role in transforming how we deliver our business:

 Staff with expertise in program logic help policy officers redescribe how activities contribute
to desired policy outcomes.
 Evaluation experts help establish monitoring and evaluation measures as part of program
design, to enable the Department to collect meaningful information during implementation
and correct course if required.
 Risk experts help guide where more effort should be applied to higher risk activities, and a
lighter administrative approach applied to lower risk activities.
 Data experts help establish appropriate data collection arrangements and maximise the
value of data through analytics to inform development of policy, programs and regulatory,
compliance and reporting initiatives.
 Communications experts help tailor engagement and feedback mechanisms to the target
audiences of policy, programs, regulatory and compliance activities.
This expertise needs to be harnessed and focussed around shaping modern business
services for the Department that are streamlined, outcomes focused and ready to exploit
technology and automated ways of doing business.

Delivering new tools and ways of delivering business will affect our people. Change
management, training and support are critical components to the success of this strategy.
Investments in new technology and information solutions must be accompanied by investment
in staff capability—training and development.

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Governance
As key enablers for the Department, our technology and information assets and supporting
business processes cannot be changed without commitment from the entire Department—
executive and staff. Based on current arrangements, specific committees and personnel have
governance responsibilities and accountabilities for the suite of investments in technology and
information.

The Department’s Executive Board is responsible for endorsing the directions of this strategy
and the Multi-year Investment Plan that translates strategy into implementable actions. The
Investment Sub-committee is responsible for recommending broad allocations of capital and
operational funding to the Executive Board, including investments in technology and
information. The Investment Sub-committee also endorses the program level business cases
that sit underneath the Multi-year Investment Plan.

The Knowledge and Technology Division (KTD) Program Board has governance oversight of
the program level business cases and endorses the project plans for projects that sit within
those business cases. The KTD Project Management Office has responsibility for project
assurance.

The Governance and Performance Committee has a role in aligning this strategy with the
Department’s other strategies, and vice versa, to ensure a cohesive strategic direction for the
Department.

Figure 5 shows the governance arrangements for this strategy and how the strategy will
translate into investments in technology and information. The Chief Information Officer and the
Chief Data Officer will consult appropriate committees and stakeholders about any changes to
this strategy and the Multi-year Investment Plan.

Figure 5 - Governance arrangements

Figure 6 illustrates how actions flow from strategy to implementation at the project level.

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Figure 6 - Technology and Information Strategy from strategy to implementation

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Appendix 1 - Alignment to Corporate Plan
Table 1 shows how the Technology and Information Strategy contributes to the eight areas of capability identified in the Department’s

Corporate Plan 2018-19.

Table 1 - Alignment to Corporate Plan

Area of capability Goals Technology and Information Strategy contribution
Preparing our  Lights on  All staff training to support rollout of new software, hardware and services
workforce for the
 Flexible  All staff training to support information management skills and security awareness
future
 Environment  Develop specialist IT skills in-house, to reduce reliance on contractors
 Information at the core  Refocus IT staff development on future state skills
 Digitise paper-based workflows and embed paperless record keeping
 Enhance data analytics capability
Partnering for better  Mobility and collaboration  Improve user experience for stakeholders interacting with departmental IT systems
outcomes
 Information at the core  Improve accessibility of information for stakeholders, including spatial data
 Improve our ability to collaborate with our stakeholders and partners
Maintaining a positive  Secure  Improve the Department’s cyber security, including staff awareness
risk culture
 Information at the core  Preventive controls (e.g. budget for ongoing maintenance when costing new
systems)
 Mobility and collaboration
 New identity management arrangements
 Improve information management to better inform risk assessments
 Enhance collaboration tools to support risk conversations, regardless of location

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Area of capability Goals Technology and Information Strategy contribution
Making evidence-based  Information at the core  Maximise the value of data to inform decisions
decisions and
 Improve information management practices
providing evidence-
based advice  Provide better access to our data through technology
 Provide structure to unstructured information and digitise research outputs
 Provide user-centric interfaces to facilitate interrogation of data and information
 Use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyse large volumes of
disaggregated data
 Actively participate in Commonwealth led efforts to harness the value of data, such
as the Data Integration Partnership for Australia
Fostering innovation  Flexible  Enhance the Department’s ability to achieve its objectives through adoption of new
technologies (e.g. cloud services)
 Information at the core
 Increase accessibility of information
 Mobility and collaboration
 Create best practice and innovative digital products that are engaging
 Enable new uses of data through better information management and spatial tagging
 Modernise the way we work

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Area of capability Goals
Improving our  Fit for purpose
technology and digital
 Mobility and collaboration
capabilities
 Flexible
 Information at the core
 Secure
 Environment
 Lights on
Communicating and  Mobility and collaboration
engaging effectively
 Information at the core
Pursuing regulatory  Flexible
maturity
 Information at the core
Technology and Information Strategy contribution
 Implement an enterprise approach to ICT investment
 Increase reliability of IT services, including at our local, regional and remote sites
 Standardise business processes to enable rationalisation of IT systems
 Improve cyber security
 Improve productivity tools
 Increase support for mobile devices
 Enhance collaboration capabilities
 Simplify the way stakeholders engage with the Department through improvements to
ICT
 Improve the integration and quality of our information
 Make device management more energy efficient
 Consolidate on-premises infrastructure to reduce energy consumption
 Improve quality assurance processes by implementing better testing and automation
tools
 Explore new channels and digital partnerships to better engage the community
 Improve user experience for stakeholders interacting with departmental IT systems,
websites and digital products
 Improve access to information for stakeholders and users
 Better management of information
 Reduced red tape, complexity and duplication for stakeholders through use of
homogeneous cloud services and better access to information
 Reliable and current single point of truth for data and information
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